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Biomedical subjects

L Williamson

Publications and source records attributed to L Williamson.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1999

Profile of people referred to an emergency department from residential care.

BACKGROUND: Elderly people in residential care are among the most infirm in society and are at high risk of developing acute medical problems. There are no Australian data on the use of acute hospital emergency services by this group. AIM: To determine patterns of use of a major public hospital's Emergency Department (ED) by elderly people living in residential care, their presenting problems and the outcome of attendance. METHODS: Prospective study of 300 consecutive referrals to a teaching hospital's ED involving people aged over 65 years and living in residential care in southern Adelaide, South Australia. Case records were examined and residential care staff were interviewed by telephone when information required clarification. This occurred in 25% of referrals. RESULTS: The 300 referrals were seen over a three month period and accounted for 2.43% of the 12,371 ED attendances during this period. During this time, at least 4.9% of people in residential care in the region were referred to the ED. The referrals involved 239 residents, 196 (82%) who were referred once only, 32 (13%) twice and 11 (5%) three or more times. Residents had a mean age of 84 years and 70% were female. A broad range of acute medical problems precipitated referral and 61% of people referred were immediately hospitalised. There was no general practitioner (GP) involvement in the management of the presenting illness in 58% of all referrals and in 45% of those where symptoms had been present for over three days. CONCLUSIONS: People living in residential care are frequently referred to an ED service, often bypassing their GP in the process. They present with a wide range of acute medical problems for which most are hospitalised. Strategies that anticipate, prevent and manage health breakdown in residential care and so minimise the need for ED referral should be trialed.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

Eating disorders and the cultural forces behind the drive for thinness: are African American women really protected?

Responding to mainstream ideals of female beauty, many women and girls view thinness as a requirement for feeling acceptable to themselves and to others. The drive to be thin can lead to problematic eating patterns, such as self-starvation, binge-eating, and purging, symptoms of the eating disorders, anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Most current literature on eating disorders and the drive for thinness focuses only on White middle-class women and girls. African American females have been largely excluded from studies, due to the assumption that the Black community's acceptance of women with fuller shapes protects its women from eating problems. However, recent studies are beginning to show that race, class, and exposure to a dominant culture which denigrates Black features and physiques impact body image among Black women and may play a role in the development of eating problems.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Immuno-electron microscopy reveals that the excitotoxin quinolinate is associated with the plasma membrane in human peripheral blood monocytes/macrophages.

Quinolinate (QUIN), a tryptophan-derived excitotoxin, was localized ultrastructurally in human peripheral blood monocytes/macrophages (MO) by immuno-electron microscopy. A combined carbodiimide/glutaraldehyde/paraformaldehyde-based fixation procedure was developed for optimal retention of QUIN in the cell as well as minimal loss of ultrastructure; a silver-enhanced colloidal gold detection system was used for electron-microscopic analysis. Gold particles representing QUIN immunoreactivity were associated with the inner side of the plasma membrane in normal MO. The number of gold particles increased significantly when QUIN levels were elevated by treatment with its precursor kynurenine, but location of the gold particles remained essentially the same under this condition. Treatment with interferon-gamma increased the number of Golgi bodies, vacuoles and pseudopodia, reflecting the activated state of the cell. Significantly increased numbers of gold particles representing QUIN were detectable in approximately the same location as in the case of kynurenine treatment. Combined treatment with kynurenine and interferon-gamma maximally increased the number of gold particles at the periphery of the cell. The pseudopodia were intensely stained with gold particles, while they were not detectable in the inner part of the cytoplasm or in any other organelle even under this activated condition. The significance of the specific location of QUIN revealed in the present study and its relation to the release and subsequent actions of QUIN are discussed.

Cell Membrane↗
PubMed1996

Soul sisters: the St. John and Raynard nurses in nineteenth century London.

This paper uses the archives of the St John's training institution for nurses and the Raynard Mission to determine the extent to which cultural images and specialised space defined and drove the nursing profession in nineteenth and early twentieth century London. Emphasis is placed upon image and rhetoric, both sacred and secular, and the way the two combined to define the 'ideal' Victorian woman and nursing in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the understanding and treatment of illness. Research to date suggests that through a process of rationalisation of biblical and socio-cultural rhetoric, a specialisation of space, symbolic and literal, abstract and real was created; this enabled women to work in a gendered enclave, the organisational structure and rhetoric of which paralleled that of nunneries or convents. And even as the 'secular' became dominant in medical attitudes and treatment, the 'sacred'aspect of nursing and the emphasis placed upon it as being a vocation remained strong.

History, 19th Century↗
PubMed1995

HIV agencies: can they evaluate their own services?

This paper describes the development and implementation of self-evaluation methods and guidelines in non-statutory HIV agencies that have been funded by Lothian Health. Two researchers developed this work under the aegis of the Lothian Health Centre for HIV/AIDS and Drug Studies (CHADS). It was implemented in eight agencies providing a diverse range of services. The methodology used included seminars, interviews, and self-evaluation report booklets, which the agencies completed. This process was not designed to be a full evaluation on its own, but rather used in conjunction with independent health board evaluation and monitoring systems. It proved to be an effective system and is currently being used with drug services who have already received an independent evaluation.

Community Health Services↗
PubMed1995

Collective bargaining in private industry, 1994.

In sum, for the last 3 years, bargainers have negotiated wage and compensation increases that have been lower, on average, than those agreed to the last time the same parties met, despite an improving national economy. While negotiators may have been taking their cue from economic conditions specific to their company or industry, rather than from overall economic conditions, the modest changes in compensation under 1994 settlements were similar to the moderate changes in compensation prevailing the economy.

Collective Bargaining↗
PubMed1994

Source monitoring during name recognition in older adults: psychometric and electrophysiological correlates.

The hypothesis that source monitoring in older adults is specifically related to frontal lobe function was tested. In a fame-judgment task, older adults' ability to monitor the source of name familiarity was independent of their short-term recognition ability. Source errors were not related to performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, a psychometric index of frontal function, or to the initial orienting response of the contingent negative variation (CNV), a frontally based electrophysiological measure, even though these "frontal" measures were reliably related to each other. Source error was predicted by the latter portion of the CNV, the expectancy response, and by the Benton Facial Recognition Test, a visuoperceptual task not typically linked to frontal function. These data suggest that the accuracy of source attribution in older adults depends on various attentional control processes, not all of which may be frontally based.

Aged↗